Shelving is used extensively for stocking and storing products or merchandise in a variety of stores. Many stores simply employ shelves on which merchandise is stocked. In such stores, if the shelves are not at eye level, it is difficult for the customer to see the items being displayed, if they are not located adjacent the front edge of the shelf. It is desirable for merchandise to be displayed at the front of the shelf so that the customer can see the merchandise and be induced to purchase such merchandise. Also, such shelves make it difficult to rotate product, i.e., move the older stock to the front of the shelf and position newer stock behind the older stock. Rotating products is an important consideration, if the goods are perishable or are subject to becoming stale.
Numerous forward feed devices have been proposed to automatically move an item forward on a shelf, as the item before it is removed. These devices generally fall into one of three categories. The first category includes inclined tracks, which rely on gravity to feed, slide or roll products forward. A second category employs conveyor belts, which still use gravity to effect forward movement. A third category, which has become popular in recent years, uses spring biased paddles, in a pusher system to feed the product forward on a horizontally oriented shelf. Such pusher systems have been found useful for a variety of merchandise.
Forward feed devices are usually associated with divider walls. Normally, a divider wall is located on either side of a pusher, mounted on a track, (i.e., a pusher system), so as to maintain the merchandise in rows. In certain designs, both the pusher system and the divider wall are mounted to at least a front rail or front mounting member of the merchandising system, in order to allow a proper spacing of the pusher tracks and the divider walls on a shelf. In some known systems, the divider walls are separate from the pusher tracks. In others, the divider walls and the pusher tracks are of one piece. In either case, the divider walls and pusher tracks are, in some designs, slidably mounted on the front rail or mounting member. In other designs, one or both are fixedly mounted in relation to the front rail. In still other designs, both a front rail and a rear rail are employed and one or both of the pusher tracks and the divider walls are either fixedly secured to one or both of the front rail and the rear rail, or slidably mounted thereon.
Problems remain, however, with both the forward feed devices and the divider walls. As to the forward feed devices, almost universally today these are made from some type of plastic in an injection molding operation. However, the moldings are fairly complex and, thus, the die to make them is complicated and expensive. It would be desirable to develop a track of a simple design which would be easier to mold and yet have sufficient rigidity to resist the stresses and strains imposed on the track during use. With regard to the divider walls, these are normally of a single width. That width, however, may be too wide for certain thin merchandise items offered for sale, such as a column of tooth brushes or small bottles of paint for model kits, such as cars, airplanes, boats and the like.
Another difficulty with forward feed devices is that the current devices are not adapted for use in connection with wide products, such as frozen food packages sold in grocery stores or the like. Moreover, the current designs of dividers and tracks do not allow such dividers or tracks to be selectively locked to a mounting member, such as a front rail, or movable in relation to the mounting member. Nor are the current dividers and tracks provided with resiliently biased engaging elements for engaging a suitably shaped portion of the mounting member. It would be advantageous to have dividers and tracks that can be selectively locked to the mounting member or movable in relation thereto, via the simple engagement and disengagement of locking elements which are accessible from the front of the shelf. In this way, if it is desired to shift the divider or the track laterally in relation to the rail, the locking element can be disengaged and the divider or track can be shifted. It is particularly advantageous to be able to move the track without having to unload the products being held on the track, before the track can be moved.
Unloading of the products held on the track is greatly disadvantageous from the standpoint that it makes the shifting of the track along the rail a time consuming chore for store personnel. It should be appreciated that with the weight of the products on the track, it is quite difficult for store personnel to move the track laterally. This is due to the friction generated between the track and the shelf supporting it during any attempt to move the track because of the weight of product, when coupled with any locking feature of the track.
Therefore, it would be beneficial to store personnel if they could move a track (or a divider, or both) in a selective fashion without having to remove all the products which are held on the track. At the same time, it is beneficial to positively lock either the divider or the track, or both, to the rail when merchandise has been correctly loaded on the track, usually in a column, and the dividers are adequately spaced apart to accommodate the merchandise. In other words, it is desirable to prevent inadvertent movement of at least the dividers, if not also the tracks, during normal shopping activity by consumers. Dividers in particular are sometimes shifted sideways when round containers are pushed forward on tracks. It is said that the dividers “walk.” It is desirable to retard or prevent such movement. However, it is also advantageous to allow store personnel to adjust the locations of at least the tracks, if not also the dividers, on a rail without being forced to unload the tracks before being able to move them.
Accordingly, it has been considered desirable to develop a new and improved merchandising system which would overcome the foregoing difficulties and others, while providing better and more advantageous overall results.